eastern european eagle

Chapter 597: Great Victory on Three Fronts
With the siege platform closer to the city and overlooking the city, the attack range of all ballistae was greatly increased, covering almost half of the area of ​​Vienna. Moreover, the ballistae not only fired stone bombs, but also threw burning oil tanks into the city, causing fires everywhere in the city and chaos.

For several days, Martino launched attacks on Vienna in this way. Although he had not yet launched a full-scale siege, he had already caused considerable casualties to the defenders on the city walls, and caused panic and chaos in the city. He showed the Austrians the Romanian army's terrible siege capabilities, and at the same time, he implicitly told Albrecht that Romania was strong and had enough ability to guarantee the huge consumption of hundreds of thousands of troops, and could carry out a continuous siege.

Immediately afterwards, the Romanian army launched super siege towers, which slowly advanced towards the walls of Vienna under the protection of siege equipment such as arrow shields and infantry following closely behind.

The soldiers on the top of the city were terrified when they saw these huge monsters, taller than the city walls, approaching them. The generals who arrived after hearing the news were also stunned.

At this moment, the siege tower stopped advancing, and the infantry on the top floor began to shoot arrows at the defenders on the city wall. The next level of the siege tower also lifted the baffle, revealing the hideous face of the artillery. The shells whizzed towards the city wall, capable of knocking down several soldiers at a time, and the death was horrible.

Albrecht looked at the towering siege platform not far away and the huge siege equipment in front of him with lingering fear, and a strong sense of helplessness suddenly rose in his heart...

These days were a complete disaster for Vienna. One-fifth of the city was attacked by artillery and a small half was burned to ruins.

Surrounded by enemy forces and suffering heavy losses, Vienna was like sitting on the crater of a volcano that was about to erupt, and it was possible to be reduced to ashes at any time. Finally, at the next meeting, the Archbishop of Vienna proposed to accept Romania's request and negotiate a ceasefire with it.

The generals and citizens who had once unanimously expressed their indignation and unwillingness to surrender to the heretics, after enduring hardships such as lack of water and food, fires, the daily threat of Romanian and Hungarian artillery, and great mental pressure, most of them felt as if they had been pardoned and looked relieved when they heard the proposal of Albrecht and the Archbishop.

Vienna surrendered!!! When the Austrian envoy walked into the Allied army camp with a lost and depressed look, the good news quickly spread throughout the Allied army, and there was thunderous cheers everywhere.

The first domino fell in Vienna, and all the princes who were still waiting and watching no longer had any hope. Upper Austria, Tyrol, and Austria's neighboring countries all sent envoys to Vienna to express their goodwill to Alexander and Lajos, and took the initiative to ask for food and supplies.

The murderers who killed the prince were also handed over, and they were all beheaded as a sacrifice to the prince. Lajos also cried, he finally avenged his father.

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The news of Vienna's surrender also spread to other places. In Hungary, people sang and danced to celebrate this great victory. In the Holy Roman Empire, Sigismund could only cry to make up for his inner loss. Now that problems had arisen in all directions, what should he do?
At this time, Brandenburg sent people to propose peace terms, including ceding Silesia and making itself the king of Prussia.

This request is totally against the will of Heaven. How can you deserve to become a king? No, absolutely not.

But if that doesn't work, Brandenburg will continue to fight. If they are allowed to enter Prague and directly become the King of Bohemia, then he won't need to confer the title on them, they can just take it for themselves.

In the west, the situation in France deteriorated sharply. Stephen officially entered Paris and set up a new central government and institutions. Only a small part of France became loyal servants of the Bartland dynasty, and most of them were deprived of their property. These properties were transferred to the British, and different rewards were given at the same time.

Rewards were given according to rank, and these new French nobles were also required to assume military obligations corresponding to the value of their territory, such as garrisoning towns, providing troops to the king, and repairing castles used as storage or military fortresses. Many generals also received castles and manors under similar conditions.

The income of the new rich in France came not only from their own industries, but also from salaries for government positions, taxes, security tolls, and "protection fees" from extortion. In addition, there were spoils of war and ransoms from other parts of France. The latter not only benefited the great nobles, but also ordinary soldiers could share a share.

The ruling institutions in Paris were divided into three parts: finance, religion, and military affairs. Stephen implemented three policies: tax reduction, religious change, and army building. The messy taxes that French farmers had to pay before were simplified. At the same time, the surrender of northern France made trade with England more frequent, and the English Channel was changed from the first line of defense to the second line of defense. The southern counties of England could rest assured and no longer worry about invasion.

Stephen had a special affection for this "new land", probably because he saw himself as the heir of William the Conqueror. He always spoke of "my land" with obvious pride. He tried to make his new subjects like him, taking care not to make the ruling institutions too "English", and issued licenses and protections to encourage the development of trade and commerce. He also stopped the army from plundering.

But by now, France had made almost no preparations to meet the enemy, and the nobles were still hopelessly divided into the Burgundian and Orleans factions, fighting each other endlessly. Charles VI's madness was getting worse. The first two French crown princes had died in infancy, and the new crown prince Charles, born in 1403, was still very young, mentally immature, physically weak, and his future was not promising.

The British army was advancing like a broken bamboo, and Duke John of Burgundy began to feel afraid and tried to reconcile with the Orleanists who controlled the Dauphin. However, the Orleanists lost their capital, which caused widespread dissatisfaction among the people and weakened their power. Many people believed that they should bear full responsibility for France's misfortune.

The Archbishop of Reims said: "If it were not for the glory of Orleans, Normandy would still be French territory, the noble blood of France would not be divided, the nobles of the kingdom would not be exiled, the battle would not be lost, so many outstanding people would not be killed that night at Gerol, and the king would not have lost so many loyal friends." The Dauphin was regarded as a puppet of the Orleanists and was also blamed.

(End of this chapter)